Topic: Research

Eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly and taking the right vitamins—like vitamin D—are the best ways to improve your immune system. “If you look at all the lifestyle factors that decrease the number of days you suffer from common cold, being a physically active and fit person is the most important,” says David Nieman, a professor of public health and director of the Human Performance Lab at Appalachian State University.

Using NRPA data from 1,200 adults over the age of 50, Appalachian’s Dr. Stephanie West and Jill Naar will identify how parks and recreation departments can best facilitate older adult participation in sports and physical activities.

Drs. David Dickinson, Dave Bruner and Dave McEvoy, of Appalachian’s Department of Economics, will use their awarded funding to perform a weeklong study on the effects of sleep restriction in young adult participants.

A food insecurity and homelessness survey conducted by Appalachian professor Jeffrey Bortz found 62 percent of Appalachian students experienced some aspect of food insecurity in the 2017–18 academic year.

An article authored by senior gender, women’s and sexuality major Sope Kahn and Appalachian’s Drs. Ellen Lamont and Teresa Roach “demonstrates some of the ways LGBTQ people are challenging heterosexual hookup culture” on college campuses.

Preventing an extra single degree of heat could make a life-or-death difference in the next few decades for multitudes of people and ecosystems on this fast-warming planet, an international panel of scientists reported Sunday. But they provide little hope the world will rise to the challenge.

Appalachian State University biology professor Howard Nuefeld, known as the “Fall Color Guy,” reported optimism last week for the upcoming leaf season. Without a drought or recent bad storm, the color should be strong, but if temperatures stay warm, it may delay the leaves turning.

Flooding from Hurricane Florence that submerged a Duke Energy coal ash storage area in Wilmington did not contaminate the Cape Fear River, according to the NC Department of Environmental Quality. Environmentalists disagree.